This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Air Force

  • In Memoriam: Ten Years Ago

    On 23 March 2003, the US military suffered its first wartime “fragging” incident since Vietnam.  On that date Hasan Karim Akbar – then a soldier assigned to A Company, 326th Engineer Battalion, 101st Infantry Division – conducted a grenade and firearms attack on fellows soldiers at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait. 

    To execute his attack, Akbar first disabled a generator to disrupt lighting during the early morning hours while most troops were asleep. He then threw four grenades stolen from supply into three sleeping tents. In the resulting confusion,  he fired at other US troops with his assigned weapon.

    Akbar’s attack killed two US personnel – CPT Christopher S. Seifert, 101st Airborne, and Maj. Gregory L. Stone, 124th Air Operations Squadron, who was attached to the 101st Airborne at the time.  Fourteen other US personnel were wounded.

    Akbar was apprehended after the attack.  He was tried by court-martial and found guilty of premeditated murder in April 2005.  During his court-martial, he attacked and injured an MP escorting him to the latrine with a smuggled sharp object. 

    Akbar was convicted of murder and was sentenced to death.  His case was automatically appealed to the Court of Military Appeals, which heard his appeal in 2012.  A decision on his appeal is still pending. 

    Rest in peace, Maj. Stone and CPT Seifert.  You’re not forgotten.

    And as for you, Akbar: it may take a while, but I’m guessing that your days are indeed numbered.  I’m also guessing that you won’t die of old age.

    I recommend you start making your preparations to meet Shaytan. 

  • Senators introduce stopgap to reinstate tuition assistance

    Senators Jim Inhofe and Kay Hagan introduced a stopgap budget bill that would reinstate tuition assistance for the troops still on active duty according to Fox News;

    “The president wants Americans to feel the pain of the arbitrary across-the-board budget cuts from sequestration, but to cut off promised education assistance for our service members when there are other lower priority spending programs to draw from is an injustice,” Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

    He and Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina introduced an amendment Wednesday to a stopgap budget bill that would restore the program.

    Inhofe recognizes what the service chiefs have ignored – it will hurt retention to cut off the few things the troops have which keep them motivated to stay.

    Hagan, in a statement, also said she understands the Pentagon has some “tough budget decisions” to make, but called the decision to suspend tuition assistance “shortsighted.”

    It’s especially sad that the politicians are looking out for the troops’ welfare better than their own generals are doing. And I especially think that it sucks that the Navy Department is willing to cut Marines’ tuition assistance, while keeping their own for other-than-Marine Navy personnel.

  • Drone pilots get stressed, too

    The New York Times reports that a study from the Defense Department states that drone pilots thousands of miles from the war suffer from the same stresses as though who are actually engaged face-to-face with the enemy;

    But Air Force officials and independent experts have suggested several potential causes, among them witnessing combat violence on live video feeds, working in isolation or under inflexible shift hours, juggling the simultaneous demands of home life with combat operations and dealing with intense stress because of crew shortages.

    “Remotely piloted aircraft pilots may stare at the same piece of ground for days,” said Jean Lin Otto, an epidemiologist who was a co-author of the study. “They witness the carnage. Manned aircraft pilots don’t do that. They get out of there as soon as possible.”

    Dr. Otto said she had begun the study expecting that drone pilots would actually have a higher rate of mental health problems because of the unique pressures of their job.

    Obviously, this is an attempt by the Defense Department to elevate the status of their drone operators, but it’s making them look ridiculous and it encourages the inter-services rivalry. As TSO reported the other day, the DoD isn’t backing down from their Distinguished Warfare Medal and the fact that it rates above a Bronze Star Medal, so I guess they’re trying to justify that bit of idiocy.

    I’m not picking on drone operators, some of whom are here on TAH, many are lurking quietly. They serve like the rest of us serve – doing the jobs that most Americans won’t. But, the article states things like balancing home life with their careers as a factor – I guess its more difficult to leave your family for an eight-hour shift knowing you’re coming home alive than it is leaving your family behind for more than a year and wondering in how many pieces you’ll return.

    Honestly, I don’t want to demean the jobs that these folks do – their contribution to the war is indeed significant, but this overblown BS coming out of the Defense Department make it difficult to do otherwise. I just watched an entire hour of Inside Combat Rescue, I wonder if I have issues. Or maybe these DoD doctors should check on the mental health of folks who watch a Band of Brothers marathon for ten hours straight. FFS.

  • Devon Lauffer; Phony AF creep

    Last August, this creepy looking turd was at a Reenactment Day in Conneaut, Ohio when someone took this picture;

    Lauffer fuck

    When our buddy Dave found the picture, the beret flash over the wrong eye and the camouflage ascot jumped out at him. The fellow in the picture, Devon Lauffer was claiming service in Army Special Forces and the Air Force. You can tell he’s a killer because he’s wearing those Vietnam jungle boots, the footwear of deadly men. And then there’s the old OD jungle fatigues which certainly identify the silent stalker. And I love the CIB, no one would wear that unless they earned it, right? Well, except everyone. And he ran out of room on the left side and had to put his Air Assault wings over his right pocket.

    Well, when I went searching for him on the internet, I found out he’s only 53 years old – four years younger than me and I’m a year too young for Vietnam service (I was 17 the year the last combat troops were withdrawn). So Hondo did the application for a FOIA for us and they actually sent us too much information on him. Here’s the summary from the National Personnel Records Center;

    Lauffer Service Summary

    He served from 1976 until 1999, entirely in the Air Force Reserve and he zoomed up through the ranks to E-5. I think I know why. He apparently served in Desert Shield/Desert Storm. But I don’t see a Bronze Star like he’s wearing in the photo above, or this one from his LinkedIn profile;

    Devon Lauffer1a

    Here’s his DD214;

    Lauffer DD214

    A perfectly honorable career spoiled by an ego bigger than his accomplishments. And maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think I’d let him around any of my farm animals, he just has that look about him.

  • Travels With Ponsie – Wherein An Old Sailor Makes a Road Trip South

    With apologies to John Steinbeck.

    “We need a vacation”, The Wife explained. “We’ll head down to Florida for Christmas and New Years and bask on some warm sunny beaches instead of freezing up here on the ridge in West Virginia”, she elaborated.

    Murphy was ready too… Much more below the break.

    (more…)

  • Charles Austin Vanderburg; phony hero

    Brandon sent us a link several weeks ago in regards to Charles Austin Vanderburg who was the subject of a local story in a California newspaper, the Press Enterprise. The article has now disappeared, but the line in question was;

    Vanderburg was awarded 18 medals including the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Air Force Cross for heroism and a Purple Heart during his 20 years of service in the U.S. Air Force. The war is part of his persona. His medals are on display in his apartment. He wears a hat denoting his Silver Star.

    The Press Enterprise removed the article when they heard that Doug Sterner and Mary were on the case, so they retracted the article and the link now has this statement on it;

    The Press-Enterprise received numerous calls and emails from veterans and veterans’ organizations questioning whether Vanderburg actually had received these honors.

    Documents from the National Archives’ National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, show that Vanderburg did not earn these four medals, nor did he serve in Vietnam. He was in the Air Force from 1967 to 1987, the records state.

    Vanderburg said Tuesday, Nov. 13, that his account was accurate, but he could not provide documentation related to any of his medals.

    So, he’s still clinging to his lies. Good for him, however, here are his records;

    Charles Austin Vanderburg

    20 years of service wasn’t enough, he had to shine it up with an Air Force Cross, a Silver Star and a Purple Heart. It doesn’t look like he even went to a combat zone let alone earn those medals. He certainly wasn’t in an occupation that would have put him in a position to earn any of those medals, generally. So the war is part of his lyin’-ass personae, huh?

    He wanted attention, he’s got it now.

  • Drone guy smells funny (UPDATE)

    Scroll for update

    A couple of you have sent this Daily Mail article to us about Brandon Bryant, who claims that he was a drone operator in Nevada. the article starts out smelling funny right from the get-go;

    Bryant joined the military by accident when he accompanied a friend who was enlisting in the army and heard that he could go to university for free if he signed up to the Air Force.

    Ooops, I slipped and fell and joined the Air Force by accident. Sorta like that? And an Army recruiter told him to join the Air Force? But this is the story that is the main thrust of the article;

    The hut had a shed used to hold goats and when he received the order to fire, he pressed a button with his left hand and marked the roof with a laser.

    The pilot sitting next to him pressed the trigger on a joystick, causing the drone to launch a Hellfire missile. There were 16 seconds left until impact.

    ‘These moments are like in slow motion,’ he told the website.

    As the countdown reached seven seconds, there was no sign of anyone on the ground.

    Bryant could still have diverted the missile at that point.

    But when it was down to three seconds, a child suddenly walked around the corner.

    The next thing he saw was a flash on the screen – the explosion. The building collapsed, and the child disappeared.

    First off here is the totally misleading headline – none of this happened in that story;

    Kill a kid

    No one ordered anyone to “shoot a child” according to the story in the article, if the story even happened. I’m wondering why someone would want to spend a $68,000 missile to take out a goat shed. One $20,000/year private could have gone and kicked the shed down for a lot less money. I’ve read about folks calling for fire support and not getting it because it was too close to civilians for the anal retentive types who are apparently lawyers, too, to launch. I find it difficult to believe that this mission happened at all without the pilots having eyes on a target that wasn’t a goat shelter.

    Of course, he caught the PTSD from taking out goat sheds, but he’s left the military and he’s much better now. Well, for now, I’m sure. So if anyone out there can shed some light on this guy, we’d appreciate it. Some of our readers are asking for a way to confirm the story, and someone out there must know this guy. But there are 15 Brandon Bryants on AKO, some of them are Air Force, so it must be a fairly popular name.

    UPDATE: Well, someone did some investigating for us and found that the guy was who he says he was. Not to verify the story, but some folks know him and said he did that job. But, it seems that he’s still in the reserves and supposed to keep his mouth shut about the job, so he’s got his ass in a sling now because of this article.

    The folks who called me said that there’s a few seconds delay between the drone and the pilot in regards to the video feed – which makes complete sense. So, if there was anything true about the story, by the time the drone sent the image of the boy in the goat shed, the missile had already impacted and Bryant wouldn’t have time to abort the missile. Again, no one is saying the story is at all true, but that’s a reason that it couldn’t be true.

  • Air Force gets Infantry rope

    Yeah, I looked everywhere for an indication that this is satire, and if it is, I missed it. The article is a month and a half old, but it’s new to me. From af.mil;

    Starting Oct. 15, selected Airmen will begin wearing teal ropes — the color symbolizing sexual assault awareness and support — within the student population. Teal rope members receive specialized training by the SAPRO staff and serve as a link between non-prior service students and SAPRO for information and referral support.

    Involvement in the program is open to students who have a minimum of two months left in their training. Students must be recommended by their military training leader, pass a background check and maintain an 80 percent grade point average to be accepted into the program. Teal rope members are expected to model the Air Force core values; uphold the highest standards of professionalism as representatives of the SAPRO; and be an approachable, listening ear for their wingmen in times of need.

    “This program is so important because it helps raise awareness among our newest Airmen, and they will carry that knowledge throughout their careers,” said Chief Master Sgt. Angelica Johnson, 81st Training Wing command chief. “This is an opportunity for Airmen to be leaders and help regulate their fellow Airmen on an important issue. It’s also a chance for Airmen to go to a peer they may be more comfortable with, which assists the overall prevention efforts across the base.”

    All Airmen deserve an environment that is free from sexual harassment and sexual assault, and a culture where they can be treated with dignity and respect.

    Was infantry blue the only color they could find for their cord? And just so the Air Force knows, calling it “teal” doesn’t make it all right.